Hurra for 17.Mai!

17.Mai is over. My feet hurts as h**l due to a bit too small shoes... But we've had a great day. The weather have been splendid! Almost to hot, with 23 C and no wind, it was very warm to walk in the parade. But with some icecream afterwards we get cooled down ;)

Endre starting to get a bit tired and hot. The other two kids was further back in the parade walking with their classmates.

Back home again, finally we're having "shorts weather" :) We just have to enjoy it while it last. The forcast have rain for the whole next week. The snow is melting so fast due to the warm weather now, that the rivers is flooding and the road further down where we live is washed away. So the kids have to take a very long detour to get to school :( Hopefully they'll fix it soon. We have a "shortcut" road over the river, but the road there is starting to wash away too... So it means I'll have to take the long way when driving Endre to kindergarden as well.

Eirin and I are wearing Nordlands bunad. You can read more about bunads here.

Ready for 17th of May - our National Day

Ha en strålende 17. mai i morgen!

We're ready to celebrate our
national day tomorrow :)

Tappan Zee Cardigan

This have been my "outdoors knitting" the last week or so. I was a bit worried that I would ran out of yarn, but I had enough. It's my first top down jacket and I really like to knit this way. So much easier to measure the length.

Sorry about the poor pictures, but I didn't like the pictures hubby took of me... So you just have to see it un-modelled ;)

Pattern: Tappan Zee Cardigan.
Yarn: 355 g Mor Aase superwash. The colour on the first picture shows the colour best.
Needles: 4 mm.
Size: 42. It fits perfect. I have to block it a bit to prevent the edges to curl though ;)

I only had three of these buttons in my button jar (which was enough), and I think they look great on the jacket.

And we've had a really warm day with 15 C, so the spuds on the trees are starting to peek out :)

Serendipity socks

I've knitted 30 pairs of socks in almost a year . Since the 52 Pair Plunge III ends this month, I have not been able to knit up 52 pairs. But I don't care. I think 30 pairs of socks is great too. And I might manage to squeeze out one or two pairs before May is over ;)

Pattern: Serendipity sock from Sock Club - a great book! And the pattern was so fun and easy to knit. Perfect tv-knitting ;)
Yarn: 77 g Regia Color 4-ply #4157.
Needles: 2,5 mm.

Endre has been home all days this week. Due to playing in the water his been down with a cold and have been a bit asthmatic... So despite the sun is shining, we've been playing inside the last days. He's all into games now, or rather the bits and pieces of all the games ;) He sort out and counts the money and all the other pieces. Right now we're watching The adventure of Clutch Powers ;)

Tomorrow is Ascension day, and that is a holiday here in Norway. The school have a day off on Friday and we have our Norwegian Constitution Day on the 17th of May, so we are having a long weekend with 5 days off :) I managed to squeeze myself in my bunad today (it's been some years since last time I managed to do that...), so I don't have to worry about what to wear on Monday ;)

Ponyo

I'm not very fond of Japanese cartoons like pokemon and so on. But the films by Hayao Miyazaki are just wonderful! The kids and I have seen Ponyo today and we absolutly loved it! Eirin wanted to watch it one more time, right away. But I told her to wait until tomorrow ;)
She has borrowed My neighbour Totoro at the school library so many times, that I might have to buy her the film ;) And I defenitly have to knit her some Totoro mittens and Totoro.

I've seen
Kiki's Delivery Service, Nausicaa and Porco Rosso.
But there is so many more I have to see - Haku and Chihiro, Tales From Earthsea, Laputa: Castle in the sky, Howl's Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke and Whisper of the Heart.
I've been browsing a bit at youtube, but it can't beat watching the film on the tv, cuddled up in the sofa - with my knitting ;)

Do you have any favorites?

Outdoors Sunday :)

After staying inside the whole day yesterday due to some wind and snow, it was great to soak up some sun again today.

Endre & Eirin played hopscotch :)

We went out to look for coltsfoot's, but we didn't find any. I guess we'll have to wait another week or so.

I've turned the heel on this ;)

And hubby have made a couple of benches to have in the garden.

Spring is coming, slowly...

We had a big snowfall last week... We got about 50 cm of snow, so spring got a bit belated. It's been cold and grey for days, but today the sky turned blue and we had temperatures around 8 C :) The snow is melting again and this water puddle is like a magnet to Endre.

We brought our lunch with us out, and food do taste better outdoors ;) We could here water stream, small birds singing, a grouse in the forest and a bunch of seagulls. When the seagulls have come it's definitely spring. But waking at 5.30 in the morning because one of them are yelling right outside our bedroom window is not fun!

With Endre in sight in the water puddle, I could knit some rows on this. See, it's not a sock I have brought out with me ;) I'm kitting a Tappan Zee Cardigan, hoping I have enough yarn.

I've been using glasses since I was 8, and I got my first contact lens when I was 16. After I had kids it was just easier to put on my glasses, so the last five years or so I haven't used lenses. I have very, very bad eyesight... I have high myopia with -6 and a bit on both eyes, so I'm practically blind without them ;) When I put on my make-up I'm so close to the mirror my nose almost touches it *lol* But for each kids I have got, my eyesight have become a little better. Anyway, since I'm using glasses, the sun has always been bad to my eyes. They don't make sunglasses with more than -3 or -4, so I've been going for years squinting my eyes to the sun. But not anymore :) With the huge sunglasses which are populare now, I can put them over my glasses ;)

So now as it looks like spring is here to stay, we're hoping that out water will get back soon too. It was 3 months without water yesterday... I'm so fed up of carrying water now :/

Knitting & Crochet Blog Week :: Day Seven

There’s one love that we all share: yarn. Blog about a particular yarn you have used in the past or own in your stash, or perhaps one that you covet from afar. If it is a yarn you have used you could show the project that you used it for, perhaps writing a mini ‘review’. Perhaps, instead, you pine for the feel of the almost mythical qiviut? You could explore and research the raw material and manufacturing process if you were feeling investigative.

I love sock yarn in every way, but there is some other yarns I like too ;)
Like Sisik, which sadly is discontinued. This yarn is so soft and the colors is so rich. It's a Worsted / 10 ply Rayon, Acrylic, Mohair, Wool mix. I only had two skeins in red, two in green and one purple. The red ones became a pair of fingerless mitts.

The green bacame a neckwarmer.

And the purple a headband. I really wish I had enough red or green to knit me a sweater in this yarn, but I guess it would be hard to find now...

Knitting & Crochet Blog week :: Day Six

I'm going for the wild card today ;)

Do you have a particular knitting/crochet tool or piece of equipment that you love to use? Maybe it is an old bent pair of needles that used to belong to someone special, or a gorgeous rosewood hand-turned crochet hook that you just love the feel of?

I love needles. And these in red, metallic size 2,5 mm is my favorite. My favorite size when I knit socks ;) They have belonged to hubby's grandmother, so they've been knitted with a lot. You can see that the red paint is starting to fade on the tips.

The red needles have always been the one I would look for when I should cast on for a pair of socks. But lately they have gotten some competition from these Harmony Wood needles, also in size 2,5 mm :) It's Skew I'm knitting.

Click here to see other blogs tagged with knitcroblo6, blogging about this same topic for Knitting and Crochet Blog week. And here to see other tagged with knitcroblowc.

And I managed to finish this pair of fingerless mitts yesterday. They become a little thight for me, so my sister got them.
Pattern: Lepidoptera Mitt.
Yarn: 36 g grey Viking Baby Ull.
Needles: 2,75 mm

52 books in 52 weeks update

I love books! I've been readig books since I learned how to read, and there's no better way to spend some hours than with a good book and disappear into another world! So when I found the 52 books in 52 weeks group on Ravelry, I thought I'd make a list of the books I read and see if I manage to read 52 books in a year. And it's seems like I have no problem so far ;) I might even manage to do the reading 200+ books in 2010 challenge ;)

I've highlighted my favourite books :)

45 - Dead to the World (Southern Vampire Mysteries, Book 4) - Charlaine Harris
46 - Dead as a Doornail (Southern Vampire Mysteries, Book 5) - Charlaine Harris
47 - The girls - Lori Lansens

48 - Definitely Dead (Southern Vampire Mysteries, Book 6) - Charlaine Harris
49 - I Evigendt - Siri Fjellvang Tobiassen

All Together Dead (Southern Vampire Mysteries, Book 7) - Charlaine Harris
53 - Hva er angst - Paul Moxnes
54 - I, Coriander - Sally Gardner



55 - Fire and Ice - Julie Garwood
56 - Whispering to witches - Anna Dale
57 - Sjakk matt (Polarnetter #13) - Ellinor Rafaelsen
58 - Heksens tid - Árni Thórarinsson
59 - The hunt for Atlantis - Andy McDermott




60 - Bride Flight - Marieke Van Der Pol

Right now I've started to read "Nihal from the Land of the Wind".
What have you read lately?

Knitting & Crochet Blog Week :: Day Five

Where do you like to indulge in your craft? Is your favourite arm chair your little knitting cubby area, or do you prefer to ‘knit in public’? Do you like to crochet in the great outdoors, perhaps, or knit in the bath, or at the pub?

This is my place in the living room. Here I have all I need except for my yarn stash. I guess hubby would freak out if I should have that too in reach *lol* If you click the picture you can see the notes I've made ;)
(Sorry about the mess, but I guess all creative people have it a little messy, don't they..?)

I also knit outdoors when I can. To bad the winter is so long here - it's not fun to knit whit frozen fingers... I'm not that brave yet that I'll bring my knitting with me at the doctor/dentis waiting room. But I guess I should try to knit in the car, but sitting in the middle in the back with kids on each sides, dosn't invite for pointy needles...

Click here to see other blogs tagged with knitcroblo3, blogging about this same topic for Knitting and Crochet Blog week.

I always seem to forget how painful it is....

....and I always end up like this :(
Dirty and with huge blisters. The one on my thumb broke and hurts like he**.

And the reason..? I'll give you a hint.

I've sharpend all the colour pencils ;)

Knitting & Crochet Blog Week :: Day Four

Is there a skill related to your hobby that you hope to learn one day? Maybe you’re a crocheter who’d also like to knit? Maybe you’d like to learn to knit continental, knit backwards, try cables or attempt stranded colourwork.

1. Oregon Myrtlewood Drop Spindle, 2. Spindle Bouquet, 3. Merino Tencel blends on spindles,
4. The Victorian Myrtlewood Top Whorl Drop Spindle, 5. Hello Yarn "Peat" - Lego Spindle Spun,
6. Spindle Spininng on a Kundert, 7. DSCN2471 My Drop Spindle Collection,
8. Emily Spindle by Adam Mielke, 9. Spindle spinning progress,
10. Bosworth Spindles, 11. 3G Woodworks spindle w/ SCF fibre,
12. 130 grams Merino/Nylon fibre, spindle-spun

There's still a lot to learn when it comes to knitting. Like knitting backwards, entrelac and double knitting. But the skill I want to learn right now is to spin my own yarn :) I have the old spinning wheel hubby bought for me at a local second hand shop two years ago, but I haven't got around to buy some new bobbins for it yet. I'll have to see if I can find some similar to the one that is on. But it's old and the flyer (?) is hold in place with a leather strap. I'll have to get hubby to see if there is any way to fasten a new one without damaging this old thing :)
So I guess I'll have to strat with a drop spindle. Anyone of you have some great ones to recommend?

Click here to see other blogs tagged with knitcroblo3, blogging about this same topic for Knitting and Crochet Blog week.